Well. I'm not really sure how I feel about this episode. I've been thinking about it for a week, and I still don't know if I like it or not.
The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive at a hotel, every room of which contains a fear - clowns, mean girls, marionettes, etc. Each person has their own room, a room which houses their greatest fear. After seeing the thing which they fear, the person stops being afraid and utters the phrase, "Praise Him", which prompts a minotaur to hunt him or her down and eat their - what, their souls? Anyway, the people all end up dead. They get picked off one by one.
Of course, Amy opens a hotel room door and finds her fear, so the Doctor now has to race against time to save Amy. Must be Tuesday. He saves her, the Minotaur ends up dying after uttering some cryptic words, and the Doctor realizes that he needs to take Amy and Rory home. He leaves them at their house (with a new car for Rory), and Amy tells Rory that the Doctor is saving them.
Curiouser and Curiouser:
Amy's fear lies behind Door 7. The Doctor's fear lies behind Door 11. This is the 11th Doctor, but Amy is by no means the 7th companion, even in the new series. So what does Amy's door number mean?
Likes:
1) Not sure if I like this or not, but it was the first thing that sprang to mind, so I'm going to go with my instinct: I liked that we didn't see what either Amy or the Doctor feared. I feel that Moffat is leaving too much up in the air since he took over the show, but at the same time, I liked that we didn't have anything concrete. We may eventually find out, but I don't think it's necessary.
2) Rory was, as always, brilliant. It turns out that he never found his room because he doesn't have faith. Faith in what? Religion? I talked about this with my husband this week, and we decided that he has no faith in Amy since she kept her pregnancy from him. I quite agree with that; however, I still don't understand why Rory would have ever had faith in her from the beginning. Even now, after all they've been through, I feel like she couldn't care less about him. I don't know if they just don't have chemistry or what, but the Amy/Rory relationship seems so forced to me, and even when they're embracing, Amy is so cold towards Rory. But I digress.
3) I loved how Rory said to the Doctor, "that's my favorite car, how did you know?" and the Doctor replies, "because you showed me a photo and said, 'that's my favorite car.'" I thought the exchange was hilarious.
4) Howie, Rita and Gibbis were some of the most developed characters that we've seen so far. They reminded me a lot of Craig and Sophie (incidentally, Craig returns to us next week!)
5) You knew this was coming - AMY'S GONE!!! I have to say, though, that I doubt that this is the last we're seeing of the Ponds. But I almost did a little dance of joy. However, I DISLIKE that there will be no more Rory if they actually are gone.
Dislikes:
1) Again, the callbacks to other characters bothered me. I'm still not really sure why it bothers me so much when Moffat recalls Hartnell or other characters/aliens, but every time it just leaves me feeling highly uncomfortable.
2) Why does the Doctor give Rory a car? Rory doesn't need to be convinced to leave the TARDIS; he hasn't wanted to be there - well - EVER. Maybe it was a way of saying "thank you". I don't know, but I do know that for as hilarious as their exchange regarding the car was, I found the whole concept to be tasteless. Like a consolation prize or something. "You've lost all of time and space, but you did win this fabulous gift!"
3) When the Minotaur was talking with the Doctor at the end, why wasn't his language being translated? (I feel like this has happened before, too, but I can't remember which episode it would have been.) The TARDIS should be translating everything that the Minotaur says - I'm sure it was done on purpose to show how the Doctor is clueless, but still, little stuff like this really bothers me.
4) When the Doctor makes Amy lose her faith in him, I couldn't help but think, "Really? That's all it takes? She must not have had much faith in him to begin with".
5) I didn't like Amy and Rory's exit. First of all, I have a hard time believing that Amy is willing to just let him go so easily. However, he's left them a few times before, so maybe she thinks that he'll be back (and I'm sure he will be, those short skirts are like a Siren's call).
6) What was the point of the Weeping Angels? It couldn't have been Gibbis's fear, as he never turned to Minotaur-worship. I don't like how Moffat just throws something in for the sake of throwing it in. It's very frustrating.
7) I wish that Rory would leave Amy and travel with the Doctor. Arthur Darvil and Matt Smith remind me very much of Frazer Hines and Patrick Troughton. I think it would be brilliant if Rory ditched the ungrateful bitch and took off with the Doctor. How much fun would they have?
8) The thing Amy fears is waiting for the Doctor? That he'll never return? God, could this girl be any more obsessed? She needs to get over herself. On the other hand, it's possible that because this fear is now "cured" by the Minotaur, that is why it's so easy for Amy to let the Doctor go?
9) I'm adding this in late because I've been doing some more thinking about this episode, and I've come to the conclusion that it makes no sense. The Minotaur feeds on faith. So it shows them what they're afraid of, and suddenly they're saying "praise him". Exactly HOW does this change occur? It makes no sense, and now I think I have to say that I don't like this episode.
Hey, this literally just popped into my head - during The Impossible Astronaut, River, Rory and Amy are all called to the Doctor because they're the people he trusts the most. Really? He's letting them go now, he has (presumably) another two hundreds years to live, and after less than two years, THESE are the people he trusts the most? River I can understand, since they apparently have this amazing relationship, but Amy and Rory? He hasn't met ANYONE in two hundred years that can compare? I guess you can argue that he trusts them the most because they already know what's going on, but still ... that wouldn't be trust, that would be called HEY YOUR DAUGHTER THAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT YET IS GOING TO TRY TO SHOOT ME IN THE FACE AND SET OFF ALL THE EVENTS THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN IF YOU DIDN'T COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE - OOPS.
My husband and I were having a discussion about River Song last night, and I mentioned this in an online forum as well; I am so disappointed with what Moffat has done with River. He could have made her into a much more interesting character. Mels was fantastic, and instead of having her regenerate into Alex Kingston, she should have regenerated into a different actress. Every time he meets her in the future (from this point on) she could be played by another actress, or at least, several actresses. He could have continued this storyline for so long, and have the River he has a relationship with be one actress for a long time. Mels should have been a character from the beginning, and Alex Kingston would still have been able to appear up until Let's Kill Hitler (as this is the end of her life, though she doesn't know it). But, by making Mels regenerate into Alex, he now has to throw her into as many stories as possible because of her age. How can the Doctor and River get together now when Alex is clearly aging? She already looks much older than she did in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.
And with that, I'm not sure I have much more to say about The God Complex. Yes, the Doctor has issues. Blah blah blah. We know this, it's been explored already in the last few episodes of the Tenth Doctor. Do we need to go over this again?
Here's your palate-cleaner (and a shameless plug). I made this video last weekend after hearing a brilliant Paul and Storm song. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label rory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rory. Show all posts
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
S6 Episode 10: The Girl Who Waited
I hope you're ready for my scathing review of The Girl Who Waited. Let's jump into it, shall we?
I loved it. Well, at least, I loved it compared to all the other episodes this series. It's definitely one I would willingly watch again. I'm sure I'll still find plenty of problems with it, though. However, I'm a little worried that if I watch it a second time through, I might stop liking it, since last series when I watched an episode for the second time, my feelings about it flipped 180˚. Although, I usually went from disliking to liking an episode. But again, that could just be because there was so much about Series 5 (and the first part of 6) that I vehemently didn't like. But I digress.
The Doctor takes Amy and Rory to Apalapucia. Due to Amy needing to get her camera phone, they get separated. It turns out that the planet is suffering from a plague which only affects those with two hearts - like the Doctor. It kills them within a day, but they are placed into "kindness centers", which allow them to live out their entire lives in the span of one day. There are magnifying glass-looking mirrors that let their loved ones watch. Therefore, even though they only have one day to live, the dying person does get to live out a long life.
While Rory and the Doctor entered one of the "watching" rooms, Amy accidentally entered one of the containment rooms, so she is on the "fast track", as Madame de Pompadour would call it. The span of a few seconds for Rory and the Doctor is a week for Amy. The Doctor says he'll get her out of there immediately, and he and Rory head back to the TARDIS. Because the Doctor is susceptible to the plague, he outfits Rory with glasses (which my husband promptly declared would become the new "Rory" costume) through which the Doctor can see.
Meanwhile, Amy has been wandering around the facility and discovered something called Interface, which I'm still not really sure about. I guess it's purpose is to give people information? There are also Interrodroids - I mean, Handbots - that distribute medication which would be fatal to humans. To escape from the Handbots and wait for the Doctor, Amy finds a mechanical room and writes "Doctor - I'm waiting" in lipstick.
The Doctor sends Rory out into the facility to find Amy, and when he does, he finds that they have gone into the wrong time stream, and she's aged 36 years. And she's not happy about it. She's been alone this whole time with only Interface and a disarmed (literally) Handbot that she's named Rory. The Doctor and Rory want to find the younger Amy, but Older Amy doesn't want to help. If she helps them rescue younger Amy, she'll have never existed. The Doctor finds younger Amy's correct time stream, and he instructs Rory to use the magnifying glass to speak with her. The two Amys have a conversation (which Older Amy remembers having 36 years ago) in which Older Amy refuses to help younger Amy. However, she reconsiders for Rory's sake, but says that they need to take her back in the TARDIS as well.
The Doctor agrees to this, saying that the TARDIS will be able to handle the paradox, so he sets about getting the two Amys into the same time stream. Rory, Amy and Amy head back to the TARDIS, but they are assaulted by Handbots. Older Amy shows off some more of her fighting skills, but Amy is brushed by one of the Handbots, and Rory picks her up and carries her into the TARDIS. The doors slam shut behind them. Older Amy disables most of the Handbots, and she begs the Doctor to let her into the TARDIS, but he refuses. He tells Rory that he lied about the paradox, and that only one Amy can exist. It's Rory's choice. Older Amy decides to sacrifice herself, and she bids Rory an emotional goodbye, telling him not to let her into the TARDIS, just before she is touched by a Handbot and (we assume) goes to her death.
In the TARDIS, Amy wakes up (she'd only been knocked out) and the first words out of her mouth are, "where is she"?
Repeat Ideas:
The whole time stream thing was just done in The Doctor's Wife, so I wasn't pleased with it popping up again. I know it wasn't real in The Doctor's Wife, but it was the same basic concept. However, it was pulled off successfully in The Girl Who Waited.
Dislikes:
1) I don't understand why Amy didn't just try to go back to the TARDIS in the week that she waited in the other room. And shouldn't she be severely dehydrated by now?
2) I don't understand why 36 years later, not only is she wearing the same clothes, she's wearing the same nail polish.
3) They could have really attempted to make her hands old. I kept noticing how her face was beautifully aged, but then she had the hands of a 24-year-old. It's just too bad that they can't do reverse aging to make River look less a grandmother.
4) I'm not sure I like the Doctor's new coat.
5) I would have preferred for Older Amy go back with them. Just Older Amy. She's a lot more interesting and sympathetic than Amy.
6) Amy makes a sonic screwdriver. Let me repeat that: Amy makes a sonic screwdriver. I have a very hard time believing that anyone can just "make" a sonic screwdriver. I'm going to just pretend it's like when you're a kid and you "make" binoculars out of two empty toilet paper rolls.
Likes:
1) Wow. Karen Gillan has more than one acting style other than wide eyes! It's so nice to know that the reason her acting sucks is because of the writing and directing. Because she knocked it out of the park in this episode. I really believed she had aged 36 years. She was worn, she'd put up walls, she had a kind of quiet bitterness. Brilliant. And I seriously cannot believe that I just said that about Karen Gillan.
2) For the first time this series, I was absolutely riveted. I was totally invested in what happened to these characters. I cared about them - I was crying like a baby during the entire exchange between Amy and Rory at the TARDIS. I hated to see Amy left behind - she didn't want to stay with the Doctor and Rory, she wanted to go off on her own and have a new life. She was absolutely a sympathetic character, and I was rooting for a way for both Amys to be able to go on.
3) Rory had brilliant lines, and he just keeps getting better and better all the time. I so wish that it was just the Doctor and Rory. I have a feeling that I'd like Doctor Who about 10 times as much if Amy were out of the picture. Seriously, I find I actually really like the Doctor when he's not around Amy. After watching several stories from the Second Doctor, I feel like Matt Smith and Arthur Darvil have a very similar chemistry to Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines. And Amy is just the annoying Victoria who you'd wish would just get eaten by one of the Abominable Snowmen.
4) I liked how the Doctor blatantly lied about the TARDIS being able to manage a paradox for a short time. We knew he was lying almost immediately, and at one point we see things are starting to go wrong in the console room. It just makes the audience wonder exactly how much the Doctor lies about.
5) I'm sure there are all kinds of issues that I could have with the two time streams, but the fact that this episode was just so fun makes me not care about details. It made me feel like (most of) the RTD Doctor Who episodes did - yes, there are some plot holes, but they're not really critical to the story that is being told, so they're easily ignored. Plus, it's a lot easier to ignore the badness when there are more good things than bad things. And yes, I won't deny that there are many RTD episodes that I pretend never happened, like all the BS with the Master. (See, I'm critical when necessary, I don't just blindly love the RTD era!) God, he could have done such fantastic things with that storyline ... sorry, I'm off on a tangent again!
Let's wrap things up with a little bit of Karen Gillan on playing Older Amy.
I loved it. Well, at least, I loved it compared to all the other episodes this series. It's definitely one I would willingly watch again. I'm sure I'll still find plenty of problems with it, though. However, I'm a little worried that if I watch it a second time through, I might stop liking it, since last series when I watched an episode for the second time, my feelings about it flipped 180˚. Although, I usually went from disliking to liking an episode. But again, that could just be because there was so much about Series 5 (and the first part of 6) that I vehemently didn't like. But I digress.
The Doctor takes Amy and Rory to Apalapucia. Due to Amy needing to get her camera phone, they get separated. It turns out that the planet is suffering from a plague which only affects those with two hearts - like the Doctor. It kills them within a day, but they are placed into "kindness centers", which allow them to live out their entire lives in the span of one day. There are magnifying glass-looking mirrors that let their loved ones watch. Therefore, even though they only have one day to live, the dying person does get to live out a long life.
While Rory and the Doctor entered one of the "watching" rooms, Amy accidentally entered one of the containment rooms, so she is on the "fast track", as Madame de Pompadour would call it. The span of a few seconds for Rory and the Doctor is a week for Amy. The Doctor says he'll get her out of there immediately, and he and Rory head back to the TARDIS. Because the Doctor is susceptible to the plague, he outfits Rory with glasses (which my husband promptly declared would become the new "Rory" costume) through which the Doctor can see.
Meanwhile, Amy has been wandering around the facility and discovered something called Interface, which I'm still not really sure about. I guess it's purpose is to give people information? There are also Interrodroids - I mean, Handbots - that distribute medication which would be fatal to humans. To escape from the Handbots and wait for the Doctor, Amy finds a mechanical room and writes "Doctor - I'm waiting" in lipstick.
The Doctor sends Rory out into the facility to find Amy, and when he does, he finds that they have gone into the wrong time stream, and she's aged 36 years. And she's not happy about it. She's been alone this whole time with only Interface and a disarmed (literally) Handbot that she's named Rory. The Doctor and Rory want to find the younger Amy, but Older Amy doesn't want to help. If she helps them rescue younger Amy, she'll have never existed. The Doctor finds younger Amy's correct time stream, and he instructs Rory to use the magnifying glass to speak with her. The two Amys have a conversation (which Older Amy remembers having 36 years ago) in which Older Amy refuses to help younger Amy. However, she reconsiders for Rory's sake, but says that they need to take her back in the TARDIS as well.
The Doctor agrees to this, saying that the TARDIS will be able to handle the paradox, so he sets about getting the two Amys into the same time stream. Rory, Amy and Amy head back to the TARDIS, but they are assaulted by Handbots. Older Amy shows off some more of her fighting skills, but Amy is brushed by one of the Handbots, and Rory picks her up and carries her into the TARDIS. The doors slam shut behind them. Older Amy disables most of the Handbots, and she begs the Doctor to let her into the TARDIS, but he refuses. He tells Rory that he lied about the paradox, and that only one Amy can exist. It's Rory's choice. Older Amy decides to sacrifice herself, and she bids Rory an emotional goodbye, telling him not to let her into the TARDIS, just before she is touched by a Handbot and (we assume) goes to her death.
In the TARDIS, Amy wakes up (she'd only been knocked out) and the first words out of her mouth are, "where is she"?
Repeat Ideas:
The whole time stream thing was just done in The Doctor's Wife, so I wasn't pleased with it popping up again. I know it wasn't real in The Doctor's Wife, but it was the same basic concept. However, it was pulled off successfully in The Girl Who Waited.
Dislikes:
1) I don't understand why Amy didn't just try to go back to the TARDIS in the week that she waited in the other room. And shouldn't she be severely dehydrated by now?
2) I don't understand why 36 years later, not only is she wearing the same clothes, she's wearing the same nail polish.
3) They could have really attempted to make her hands old. I kept noticing how her face was beautifully aged, but then she had the hands of a 24-year-old. It's just too bad that they can't do reverse aging to make River look less a grandmother.
4) I'm not sure I like the Doctor's new coat.
5) I would have preferred for Older Amy go back with them. Just Older Amy. She's a lot more interesting and sympathetic than Amy.
6) Amy makes a sonic screwdriver. Let me repeat that: Amy makes a sonic screwdriver. I have a very hard time believing that anyone can just "make" a sonic screwdriver. I'm going to just pretend it's like when you're a kid and you "make" binoculars out of two empty toilet paper rolls.
Likes:
1) Wow. Karen Gillan has more than one acting style other than wide eyes! It's so nice to know that the reason her acting sucks is because of the writing and directing. Because she knocked it out of the park in this episode. I really believed she had aged 36 years. She was worn, she'd put up walls, she had a kind of quiet bitterness. Brilliant. And I seriously cannot believe that I just said that about Karen Gillan.
2) For the first time this series, I was absolutely riveted. I was totally invested in what happened to these characters. I cared about them - I was crying like a baby during the entire exchange between Amy and Rory at the TARDIS. I hated to see Amy left behind - she didn't want to stay with the Doctor and Rory, she wanted to go off on her own and have a new life. She was absolutely a sympathetic character, and I was rooting for a way for both Amys to be able to go on.
3) Rory had brilliant lines, and he just keeps getting better and better all the time. I so wish that it was just the Doctor and Rory. I have a feeling that I'd like Doctor Who about 10 times as much if Amy were out of the picture. Seriously, I find I actually really like the Doctor when he's not around Amy. After watching several stories from the Second Doctor, I feel like Matt Smith and Arthur Darvil have a very similar chemistry to Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines. And Amy is just the annoying Victoria who you'd wish would just get eaten by one of the Abominable Snowmen.
4) I liked how the Doctor blatantly lied about the TARDIS being able to manage a paradox for a short time. We knew he was lying almost immediately, and at one point we see things are starting to go wrong in the console room. It just makes the audience wonder exactly how much the Doctor lies about.
5) I'm sure there are all kinds of issues that I could have with the two time streams, but the fact that this episode was just so fun makes me not care about details. It made me feel like (most of) the RTD Doctor Who episodes did - yes, there are some plot holes, but they're not really critical to the story that is being told, so they're easily ignored. Plus, it's a lot easier to ignore the badness when there are more good things than bad things. And yes, I won't deny that there are many RTD episodes that I pretend never happened, like all the BS with the Master. (See, I'm critical when necessary, I don't just blindly love the RTD era!) God, he could have done such fantastic things with that storyline ... sorry, I'm off on a tangent again!
Let's wrap things up with a little bit of Karen Gillan on playing Older Amy.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
S6 Episode 9: Night Terrors
Overall, I did not like this episode. Yes, I know that you're shocked.
The Doctor gets a message on the psychic paper, and he and his Companions show up at the estate where the message is coming from. They split up to search for the sender, and the Doctor meets Georgie, a little boy who is terrified of everything. When something scares Georgie, he puts it in the cupboard.
While Amy and Rory are searching, they get into a lift which seemingly falls out of control. When they land, they find that they are in a house, and no one else is around.
Meanwhile, an old lady on the estate as well as the landlord disappear; the old lady gets sucked into a pile of garbage bags, and the landlord gets sucked into the floor. They both also end up in this house. Some terrifying, nightmare-inducing life-sized dolls grab the landlord, and he turns into a doll as well. And then, guess what? Amy gets turned into a doll, too!
Back at the ranch, the Doctor is working with Georgie's father to try to figure out what's going on. Suddenly, both the Doctor and Georgie's dad get sucked into the cupboard and also end up in the house. Because it's actually the dollhouse that's inside the cupboard! But Georgie faces his fears and everything turns out okay. Except for Georgie, who is really an alien who got himself adopted by his Earth parents and changed their memories slightly so that they thought he was really theirs. And he doesn't know it. I dunno.
Repeat Ideas:
1) Really? The Doctor saves another child from a scary monster? I suppose this isn't a shock, as Doctor Who is (supposedly) a children's show, but haven't we had enough of this from Moffat for a while?
2) I'm not really sure why I'm putting this next item here, but instinct says it goes here: Amy and Rory are miniaturized and put into the dollhouse. So weird ... why would I think this is a repeat? That time when they got miniaturized and transferred into the head of that robot thing was like forever ago - what? OH MY GOD! THAT WAS ONLY THE LAST EPISODE?!?!
3) The idea of planted memories of children has been done before - anyone remember Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead? Seriously, does Moffat just have a list of plots that he goes over every time he gets a story pitched to him and says, "that's great, but instead of an original idea, why don't we use this one? We haven't used that storyline in four episodes. Let's just change one or two things and people will think it's totally original". (And yes, he absolutely says that just like a Valley Girl.) Look, I understand that there are what, two or three basic plots in the world that just keep getting used over and over and over, but those are simple ideas. Moffat keeps reusing very specific plot devices. Oh, and also, this reeked of Dawn.
Dislikes:
1) I didn't like Georgie. To be specific, I didn't like the actor. And I feel bad about that, because he's just a kid. I think I've been spoiled by Amelia Pond.
2) Wow, they could have really done a fantastic job with the dollhouse idea. I LOVE the concept, but it was so half-assed. With the exception of the doll's eye and the copper pot, everything else was scaled to Amy and Rory's size, NOT to dollhouse size. Have the set designers ever seen a dollhouse? Unless it's Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle (the weeping willow cries real tears!) or the Thorne Miniature Rooms, most dollhouse furniture is NOT to scale, especially a cheap dollhouse like Georgie would have. Yeah, that dollhouse as a whole was way too elaborate. I love the idea, and I'd love to see it done well, but then it would have to move to the top section of the blog ...
3) Since when does the Doctor knock on doors? Something about that really irritated me. I supposed it shouldn't, but it did.
4) The second hand of the clock in the kitchen doesn't move. Normally this stuff doesn't bother me, but that's because it's not noticeable. During the entire scene in the kitchen, I was staring at the clock and actually had to rewind to see what had happened.
Likes:
1) Psychic paper! I love the psychic paper. I can't remember where I read this, but apparently Russell T. Davies invented the psychic paper to cut out all the explaining that the Doctor has to do so often. Just - here ya go, this is who I am, doesn't it look official? Also, I cannot stress enough how happy I am that Georgie didn't call the Doctor. I love it when psychic paper is used as a message board.
2) I loved the Doctor in this episode - more proof that I like him when he's not with Amy. I love the exchange he has with Georgie's dad about opening and not opening the cupboard.
3) When Rory and Amy tumble out of the lift, Rory says something like, "we're dead - again!" I love that he hasn't actually died for a while.
Here ya go:
The Doctor gets a message on the psychic paper, and he and his Companions show up at the estate where the message is coming from. They split up to search for the sender, and the Doctor meets Georgie, a little boy who is terrified of everything. When something scares Georgie, he puts it in the cupboard.
While Amy and Rory are searching, they get into a lift which seemingly falls out of control. When they land, they find that they are in a house, and no one else is around.
Meanwhile, an old lady on the estate as well as the landlord disappear; the old lady gets sucked into a pile of garbage bags, and the landlord gets sucked into the floor. They both also end up in this house. Some terrifying, nightmare-inducing life-sized dolls grab the landlord, and he turns into a doll as well. And then, guess what? Amy gets turned into a doll, too!
Back at the ranch, the Doctor is working with Georgie's father to try to figure out what's going on. Suddenly, both the Doctor and Georgie's dad get sucked into the cupboard and also end up in the house. Because it's actually the dollhouse that's inside the cupboard! But Georgie faces his fears and everything turns out okay. Except for Georgie, who is really an alien who got himself adopted by his Earth parents and changed their memories slightly so that they thought he was really theirs. And he doesn't know it. I dunno.
Repeat Ideas:
1) Really? The Doctor saves another child from a scary monster? I suppose this isn't a shock, as Doctor Who is (supposedly) a children's show, but haven't we had enough of this from Moffat for a while?
2) I'm not really sure why I'm putting this next item here, but instinct says it goes here: Amy and Rory are miniaturized and put into the dollhouse. So weird ... why would I think this is a repeat? That time when they got miniaturized and transferred into the head of that robot thing was like forever ago - what? OH MY GOD! THAT WAS ONLY THE LAST EPISODE?!?!
3) The idea of planted memories of children has been done before - anyone remember Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead? Seriously, does Moffat just have a list of plots that he goes over every time he gets a story pitched to him and says, "that's great, but instead of an original idea, why don't we use this one? We haven't used that storyline in four episodes. Let's just change one or two things and people will think it's totally original". (And yes, he absolutely says that just like a Valley Girl.) Look, I understand that there are what, two or three basic plots in the world that just keep getting used over and over and over, but those are simple ideas. Moffat keeps reusing very specific plot devices. Oh, and also, this reeked of Dawn.
Dislikes:
1) I didn't like Georgie. To be specific, I didn't like the actor. And I feel bad about that, because he's just a kid. I think I've been spoiled by Amelia Pond.
2) Wow, they could have really done a fantastic job with the dollhouse idea. I LOVE the concept, but it was so half-assed. With the exception of the doll's eye and the copper pot, everything else was scaled to Amy and Rory's size, NOT to dollhouse size. Have the set designers ever seen a dollhouse? Unless it's Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle (the weeping willow cries real tears!) or the Thorne Miniature Rooms, most dollhouse furniture is NOT to scale, especially a cheap dollhouse like Georgie would have. Yeah, that dollhouse as a whole was way too elaborate. I love the idea, and I'd love to see it done well, but then it would have to move to the top section of the blog ...
3) Since when does the Doctor knock on doors? Something about that really irritated me. I supposed it shouldn't, but it did.
4) The second hand of the clock in the kitchen doesn't move. Normally this stuff doesn't bother me, but that's because it's not noticeable. During the entire scene in the kitchen, I was staring at the clock and actually had to rewind to see what had happened.
Likes:
1) Psychic paper! I love the psychic paper. I can't remember where I read this, but apparently Russell T. Davies invented the psychic paper to cut out all the explaining that the Doctor has to do so often. Just - here ya go, this is who I am, doesn't it look official? Also, I cannot stress enough how happy I am that Georgie didn't call the Doctor. I love it when psychic paper is used as a message board.
2) I loved the Doctor in this episode - more proof that I like him when he's not with Amy. I love the exchange he has with Georgie's dad about opening and not opening the cupboard.
3) When Rory and Amy tumble out of the lift, Rory says something like, "we're dead - again!" I love that he hasn't actually died for a while.
Here ya go:
Sunday, August 7, 2011
S6 Episode 3: Pirates of the Caribbean 5 Curse of the Black Spot
Surprisingly, I don't have too many issues with this episode. I should rephrase that: I have less issues that I expected I'd have, considering I LOATHE Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. A lot of reviews that I've read or listened to heavily criticized the graphics. I had zero problems with the graphics - that's about the only thing I had zero problems with.
The Doctor and his Companions are off on a storyarc-less adventure on the high seas! They arrive on board a pirate ship whose crew is slowly being taken by a Siren-like creature. Once they are injured, even in the slightest way, they are marked with the black spot; she appears (I almost wrote "Apparates") and sings to the sailors, enchanting them. At her touch, they apparently explode. The crew get picked off rather quickly, despite having been becalmed for eight days. At one point, Rory gets a superficial cut, but Amy and the Doctor prevent him from being taken by the Siren. Pretty soon it's just the Captain, the Doctor, Amy, Rory, Toby (the Captain's stowaway son) and two other pirates. After discovering that the Siren can get in through water, they barricade themselves inside the armory.
The Doctor and the Captain make their way to the TARDIS, who is also becalmed, and disappears (or "Disapparates", if you prefer) as they watch. One of the crew members leaves the armory to pilfer the loot, and he is taken by the Siren. It is then that the Doctor then realizes that it's not water that calls the Siren, but reflections. And, OH NO! The Captain's pendant is gone! They rush back to the armory just as Toby starts to polish the pendant. The Doctor starts breaking out all the windows and throwing all the treasure overboard, but the Captain secrets a crown inside his coat. He LOVES treasure!
Well, then a huge storm whips up, and as Toby brings his father his coat, the crown rolls out and Toby is taken by the Siren. Then Rory gets knocked overboard. The Doctor, Captain, and Amy all cut their hands so that the Siren will come take them. She arrives, and they all reach out to her.
They all wake up on the floor of a space ship. All of the crew members are lying on beds, hooked up to machines. The Doctor figures out that the Siren is really some kind of hologram, and the space ship had been becalmed just like the pirate ship. And reflections were a way for the hologram to get through. She was rescuing all of the people who were injured, even if it was minor. However, she doesn't know how humans work, so she can't actually heal them, just keep them in stasis. Amy wants to take Rory back to the TARDIS, so she gives her consent to the hologram. Before unhooking Rory, he wakes up and tells her that she'll have to do CPR, which Amy says she doesn't know. But he trusts her. So she unhooks him, they get back to the TARDIS, and Amy performs CPR. After a minute, though, she gives up. And then, miraculously, Rory spits out water and is okay.
Before they leave, the Captain says he's not leaving his son. So, he decides to fly the space ship away (a ship is a ship, after all). All the crew members (that we'd met) and Toby all stand around his chair.
Repeat Ideas:
Hmm. I couldn't come up with any repeat ideas, as this is the first time we've seen a watery tart charming things with her singing ... hang on a minute ...
1) A watery tart charming things with her singing. We JUST watched Abigail charm the shark and control the fog with her singing. Yes, it was a few months prior to this episode, but it was only FOUR episodes ago!
2) A medical specialist who didn't know how to heal its patients? I have four words for you - ARE YOU MY MUMMY?
3) When they find the aliens in the space ship, the Doctor makes a comment along the lines of, "have you ever looked in a mirror and thought you were seeing a different world?" This is a bit too similar to the line in Family of Blood, "He trapped her inside a mirror ... If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you just for a second, that's her. That's always her.
4) In case you haven't been keeping count, this is the third time that Rory dies. Fourth, if you count his fake death in Day of the Moon.
Dislikes:
1) The crew gets picked off so fast. Seriously, are there THAT many injuries on a ship? At the rate that everyone is getting injured, the whole crew should have been gone days ago.
2) The Siren doesn't come for Rory until he realizes that he's been cut. That's convenient.
3) The original concept, that the Siren could travel through water, was a MUCH better concept than traveling through reflections.
4) How does the Captain knows that Toby is his son? He's clearly never met him, as Toby says, "[Mother] told me all about you, I should be proud to know you".
5) When the Doctor and the Captain leave the armory to go to the TARDIS, the Captain slips and almost cuts his hand. I have a hard time believing that a man who spends his whole life at sea could be that clumsy.
6) When they first enter the armory, there are two crew members besides Amy, Rory, and Toby. But, a few minutes later, there is only one. Where did the other crew member go?
7) Why did the Siren take the TARDIS? I understand that the TARDIS is alive, unlike the ship, but is there something wrong with the TARDIS besides being becalmed? I doubt it. They only made the TARDIS disappear so that they could get Rory onboard. If it was going to disappear, it should have happened before this.
8) If there are all these pieces of reflective treasure laying around, she would have total access to the ship. But, because you have to see a REFLECTION, then the treasure would have been fine being kept locked up somewhere. There was no need to throw it all overboard.
9) The Doctor calls the Siren to them by opening up the barrel of fresh water during the storm. DURING. THE. STORM. I've never been on a ship during a storm, but I'm guessing that the water isn't exactly reflection-friendly when the ship is being tossed about and there is no moon.
10) When the Siren takes the Doctor, Amy, and the Captain, they wake up on the floor of the space ship. Why aren't they in a bed like everyone else?
11) They find the aliens, and the Doctor touches them, then exclaims, "ew, alien bogies!" Wait a minute ... if the ship was becalmed for eight days, then the alien space ship must have been there for at least eight days, too. The aliens must have died pretty soon after landing there, since they're all still strapped in to their seats, and, if the Captain was able to fly the ship away, it wasn't becalmed. So why are their bogies still fresh?
12) How did the Doctor get consent from the Siren to take the TARDIS away? And how was Toby sitting up with the Captain when he flew the ship away? And all the other crew members? Did he give his consent? Is there some kind of long extension cord stretched between the bridge and the sick bay that's keeping Toby alive? I'm so confused.
Likes:
1) I did like how the Captain kept saying, "a ship's a ship". I love it when people from the past are able to grasp modern concepts. After all, they weren't stupid, just had no exposure to modern technology. It drives me crazy in books and movies when someone time travels to the past and everyone is terrified of technology. Overall, the Captain was a really good character.
Bottom line: most of this story didn't make sense, but it was kind of fun.
And now, Davy Jones has a question for Rory:
The Doctor and his Companions are off on a storyarc-less adventure on the high seas! They arrive on board a pirate ship whose crew is slowly being taken by a Siren-like creature. Once they are injured, even in the slightest way, they are marked with the black spot; she appears (I almost wrote "Apparates") and sings to the sailors, enchanting them. At her touch, they apparently explode. The crew get picked off rather quickly, despite having been becalmed for eight days. At one point, Rory gets a superficial cut, but Amy and the Doctor prevent him from being taken by the Siren. Pretty soon it's just the Captain, the Doctor, Amy, Rory, Toby (the Captain's stowaway son) and two other pirates. After discovering that the Siren can get in through water, they barricade themselves inside the armory.
The Doctor and the Captain make their way to the TARDIS, who is also becalmed, and disappears (or "Disapparates", if you prefer) as they watch. One of the crew members leaves the armory to pilfer the loot, and he is taken by the Siren. It is then that the Doctor then realizes that it's not water that calls the Siren, but reflections. And, OH NO! The Captain's pendant is gone! They rush back to the armory just as Toby starts to polish the pendant. The Doctor starts breaking out all the windows and throwing all the treasure overboard, but the Captain secrets a crown inside his coat. He LOVES treasure!
Well, then a huge storm whips up, and as Toby brings his father his coat, the crown rolls out and Toby is taken by the Siren. Then Rory gets knocked overboard. The Doctor, Captain, and Amy all cut their hands so that the Siren will come take them. She arrives, and they all reach out to her.
They all wake up on the floor of a space ship. All of the crew members are lying on beds, hooked up to machines. The Doctor figures out that the Siren is really some kind of hologram, and the space ship had been becalmed just like the pirate ship. And reflections were a way for the hologram to get through. She was rescuing all of the people who were injured, even if it was minor. However, she doesn't know how humans work, so she can't actually heal them, just keep them in stasis. Amy wants to take Rory back to the TARDIS, so she gives her consent to the hologram. Before unhooking Rory, he wakes up and tells her that she'll have to do CPR, which Amy says she doesn't know. But he trusts her. So she unhooks him, they get back to the TARDIS, and Amy performs CPR. After a minute, though, she gives up. And then, miraculously, Rory spits out water and is okay.
Before they leave, the Captain says he's not leaving his son. So, he decides to fly the space ship away (a ship is a ship, after all). All the crew members (that we'd met) and Toby all stand around his chair.
Repeat Ideas:
Hmm. I couldn't come up with any repeat ideas, as this is the first time we've seen a watery tart charming things with her singing ... hang on a minute ...
1) A watery tart charming things with her singing. We JUST watched Abigail charm the shark and control the fog with her singing. Yes, it was a few months prior to this episode, but it was only FOUR episodes ago!
2) A medical specialist who didn't know how to heal its patients? I have four words for you - ARE YOU MY MUMMY?
3) When they find the aliens in the space ship, the Doctor makes a comment along the lines of, "have you ever looked in a mirror and thought you were seeing a different world?" This is a bit too similar to the line in Family of Blood, "He trapped her inside a mirror ... If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you just for a second, that's her. That's always her.
4) In case you haven't been keeping count, this is the third time that Rory dies. Fourth, if you count his fake death in Day of the Moon.
Dislikes:
1) The crew gets picked off so fast. Seriously, are there THAT many injuries on a ship? At the rate that everyone is getting injured, the whole crew should have been gone days ago.
2) The Siren doesn't come for Rory until he realizes that he's been cut. That's convenient.
3) The original concept, that the Siren could travel through water, was a MUCH better concept than traveling through reflections.
4) How does the Captain knows that Toby is his son? He's clearly never met him, as Toby says, "[Mother] told me all about you, I should be proud to know you".
5) When the Doctor and the Captain leave the armory to go to the TARDIS, the Captain slips and almost cuts his hand. I have a hard time believing that a man who spends his whole life at sea could be that clumsy.
6) When they first enter the armory, there are two crew members besides Amy, Rory, and Toby. But, a few minutes later, there is only one. Where did the other crew member go?
7) Why did the Siren take the TARDIS? I understand that the TARDIS is alive, unlike the ship, but is there something wrong with the TARDIS besides being becalmed? I doubt it. They only made the TARDIS disappear so that they could get Rory onboard. If it was going to disappear, it should have happened before this.
8) If there are all these pieces of reflective treasure laying around, she would have total access to the ship. But, because you have to see a REFLECTION, then the treasure would have been fine being kept locked up somewhere. There was no need to throw it all overboard.
9) The Doctor calls the Siren to them by opening up the barrel of fresh water during the storm. DURING. THE. STORM. I've never been on a ship during a storm, but I'm guessing that the water isn't exactly reflection-friendly when the ship is being tossed about and there is no moon.
10) When the Siren takes the Doctor, Amy, and the Captain, they wake up on the floor of the space ship. Why aren't they in a bed like everyone else?
11) They find the aliens, and the Doctor touches them, then exclaims, "ew, alien bogies!" Wait a minute ... if the ship was becalmed for eight days, then the alien space ship must have been there for at least eight days, too. The aliens must have died pretty soon after landing there, since they're all still strapped in to their seats, and, if the Captain was able to fly the ship away, it wasn't becalmed. So why are their bogies still fresh?
12) How did the Doctor get consent from the Siren to take the TARDIS away? And how was Toby sitting up with the Captain when he flew the ship away? And all the other crew members? Did he give his consent? Is there some kind of long extension cord stretched between the bridge and the sick bay that's keeping Toby alive? I'm so confused.
Likes:
1) I did like how the Captain kept saying, "a ship's a ship". I love it when people from the past are able to grasp modern concepts. After all, they weren't stupid, just had no exposure to modern technology. It drives me crazy in books and movies when someone time travels to the past and everyone is terrified of technology. Overall, the Captain was a really good character.
Bottom line: most of this story didn't make sense, but it was kind of fun.
And now, Davy Jones has a question for Rory:
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